Sea Bride- Children of the Waves (7 page)

The sound of his laughter
echoed in her head. “Yes, we have female sea people. They are out and about
also. I saw a few on our way here, but you might not have noticed them. Look,
there are a few now.”

She swung her head in the
direction he faced and sure enough, there were two women heading straight for
them. One seemed in her mid-twenties, and the other a teenage girl anywhere
from thirteen to sixteen. Both were stunning, and at least wore strips of
matching clothes, instead of going topless like some myths involving sea people
described. There was one piece wrapped around their breasts and another short
sari-like wrap around their bottoms. Their almost translucent skin seemed to
have different colored tints: one blue, the other pink. One had jet black hair
floating around her like a cloud, the younger one possessed hair the color of
pearl and their faces were flawless.

The women stopped in front of
them. Something in their eyes…even the younger one had the look of ageless
wisdom. It made them seem far older than they looked. They greeted Xavior the
same way the other men did. But this time they spoke, “Your Highness.”

“What?”

Chapter
Five

Xavior wanted to groan. He’d
hoped to avoid having anyone speak to him, but no such luck. He intended to
explain to Cori who he was, and who she was to him. Judging by the shock in her
voice, he had lots of explaining to do. But first, he needed to get rid of his
sisters. “Ladies, this is Cori. Cori, these are my sisters, Aurora and Serine.
We’ve had a long journey. I’m going to take our guest to my quarters and
later…we’ll talk.”

He felt surprised when he swam
past them and Cori continued to swim at his side without protest. Although, he
could hear the thoughts at the surface of her mind. He sighed. “Just wait until
we get to my quarters and I’ll explain everything. I promise.” He took her hand
and they continued to swim along the main corridor.

“You bet your sweet ass you
will.”

They met a few of the other
palace residents on the way, but no one else spoke to them. However, the bowing
as he passed was enough to set his teeth on edge. While his warriors placed
their hand to their hearts in greeting, most of the population bowed slightly
or inclined their heads when he passed.

Each time it happened, Cori
mentally screeched,
Oh shit, royalty
.

He pulled her along.

Finally, thank the waves, they
made it to his private wing. They had to go past his guards, and he signaled
them not to follow. Ordinarily, without Aaron in attendance, he would have a
guard continuously at his side within the palace, and every time he left the
grounds. He led Cori down a short hallway, and then they were at the bottom of
the stairs, leading to his room. He motioned for her to precede him.

She released his hand and moved
past him, then stopped.

“Go on,” he urged, while
gesturing for her to go up the stairs. She did. He came up behind her, and they
surfaced and stood in a small pool in his bedroom. He moved past her and
stepped out of the water. The rest of his room remained dry and looked like any
other luxury apartment on land with a pool in the center of it. Well, except
for the view.

“I guess I’m not in Kansas
anymore,” she murmured.

Xavior grinned. He couldn’t
help it.

Two entire walls in his room
were giant windows that looked over his undersea kingdom. The other wall was a
coral bed made up of beautiful seashells and starfish of every color of the
rainbow. Some were luminous and provided stunning nightlight.

She might be in a little bit of
shock. She walked around the room exploring, coming to a standstill in front of
the wall of windows to his sea world.

“Welcome to my home, Cori,” he
spoke the words aloud.

She swung back around to face
him. “I feel like I’m at an aquarium, except I’m
inside
of one. How—how can this be? The palace is obviously
underwater, we swam to get here for Christ sake, yet your room, your room…”

“There’s no water in my sleeping
quarters, although we can sleep in water. I’d just rather not. Many of us
prefer dry beds.” He grinned. “Sorry, just a bit of sea humor, everything is
always wet around here.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay,
but how can this be? We must be a long way down.”

“You have no idea. The oceans
are actually a lot deeper than the seven or so miles human sonar says it is.
Some caves provide entrance to greater depths than you can ever imagine. Such
as the one we came through. We are actually about five hundred miles from the
surface.”

She grabbed hold of the back of
a chair. “Oh. My. God.”

He smiled noticing the way her
fingers dug into the material. The chair was made from the stained bones of an
extinct predecessor to a whale, and the material, while it felt like silk, was
made from ocean spiders that dwelled at these depths. He thought it best though
not to tell her that just yet. “And there are even deeper darker depths that we
dare not venture into.”

“How can you survive the
pressure, how can I?”

“As long as you wear the
necklace, it will allow you to survive at these depths. How do you feel?”

She paused. “I—I feel
fine. Great. A little wet.”

“I’m sorry. I’m being a poor
host.” He went to a chest near his bed, then pulled out a robe and a t-shirt.
These were a few of the things he’d acquired from land, but most everything in
his room, in the palace, came from the sea. “Here.” He offered the robe to her
while he pulled on the t-shirt. “Let’s get you out of those wet things.
Through, that archway is a bathing chamber. You can have some privacy to change
in there.”

“Thank you.”

Xavior watched Cori walk into
the other room. No door separated the chambers in his quarters. If he remained
standing, he could get a glimpse of her as she changed, but he gave her privacy
by moving over to his dresser and quickly changing his own clothes. Then he
stood before the sea window, so he would not be tempted to take a peek.
So far so good
. She seemed to accept
everything about him without going into shock. Hope spiraled in his heart. The
sound of a small footstep behind him made him turn around.

Cori stopped at the foot of his
bed. Her hair hung in ringlets just brushing the edge of her shoulders. His
robe, too large for her, engulfed her much smaller frame.

He needed to remember to ask
his sisters to bring her some clothes. Not that the sea children had much use
of them, they wore the equivalent of bathing suits. Smiling, he moved toward
her. He raised his fingers to her face, stroking her cheek with the back of his
hand. His heart pounded against his ribcage when she leaned into his caress and
placed her hand over his.

“I don’t know what’s going on
here, but whatever it is, I should be running, or rather swimming—in the
other direction as fast as I can,” she said.

“So, why aren’t you?”

In response, she wrapped her
arms around his neck and he leaned down to capture her lips. “That’s a very
good question,” she whispered against his mouth. “As soon as I come up with an
acceptable answer, I’ll let you know.”

Without releasing her from
their embrace, he picked her up and carried her over to the bed. Laying her
down, he removed the belt from the robe, spreading the covering open, so he
could see the woman within. “Beautiful,” he whispered.

He’d just pulled his shirt off
and tossed it to the floor when the pool of water beside the bed began to flash
multiple colors. A signal of something requiring his immediate attention. He
tried to ignore it, but when it began to bubble, he knew it to be something he
couldn’t ignore. It meant trouble. Glancing at the bounty before him, he
groaned. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. You have no idea how much.”

She sat up and pulled the robe
around her. “What? What’s wrong?”

He frowned. “Duty calls.
Something is going on, and I have to go see what that something might be.”

“Oh. Right. You’re royalty.
Okay, well when you get back, Your Highness, you and I are going to talk.”

He grinned, and leaning
forward, kissed her quickly. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, and I’ll send my
sisters to you with some food and clothes.” He turned, took two strides and
dove into the pool of water.

His guards waited for him at
the bottom of the steps. “Our Prince,” they said in unison. Ballen, the tallest
of the two, and the one in charge of his safety when Aaron was not around,
spoke, “We’ve spotted denizens of the dark, circling the perimeter of the city,
about a hundred kilometers from the forbidden grounds. Within the treaty
limits, but still closer than they’ve ever come.”

“I’m not surprised. One of the
white witch’s pets attacked us yesterday.”

“Is she the one?” Ballen asked.

He glanced at the man.
Ballen, always the quick one.
He
originally pointed out before anyone else realized it that Xavior had begun to
age. So, bringing a strange landwalker among them could mean only one thing.

Xavior grinned. “I think so, my
friend.”

“Then the sooner we test her in
the chair, the sooner we can put an end to this war,” Ballen argued.

“Not yet. Let me take a look at
what we’re up against right now.”

“Is that why you were
attacked?” Ballen frowned. “The bitch witch was after her.”

“Ah, I see Aaron has already
been in contact with you.” At Ballen’s nod, he continued, “Yes. And don’t say
it…I know. Her life remains in danger the longer she isn’t tested. But she’s
safe for now. I need time. Just a little time for her to come to know me.”

Ballen had been one of the
fortunate ones. He’d known his fated mate all his life. “As you wish. I just
hope we have that time.”

“Sevvern, you remain here. You
guard that which is most precious to me. Have one of the dolphins find my
sisters and bring them to you. Ask them to take some food and clothes to my
guest. Her name is Cori. And tell them not to pester her with questions.”

Sevvern had the ability to
communicate with dolphins, not many of them could talk to sea creatures. “Done,
Highness,” he replied.

His second-in-command laughed
and moved aside, so he could swim down the corridor and out of the palace. He
left through a different entrance and went past several of his people, swimming
in the opposite direction away from any possible confrontation. His warriors,
however, were moving with him up to the top ridge where they could see the
farthest.

The dark moving area just
beyond the spelled treaty markers, flashing red at their approach looked like
an oil spill spreading across a couple of acres beyond the city. “By Poseidon’s
beard, the white witch is bold to come so close to the King’s city,” Ballen
observed.

“Looks like she’s calling up
all of the dark depths. She knows I cannot allow her to do that.” He raised his
hand and his trident appeared in his palm, the tips already glowing bright red
until the red light surrounded him. “Halt!” His roar travelled across the
distance between the royal city and the insidious darkness creeping toward it.
All its movement stopped. “By the king’s rite, I command you to leave this
place and return from whence you came.”

At first, nothing moved. Then
slowly, gradually, a lone figure formed and rose up out of the dark muck. The
black slid from her, revealing a woman. She sailed over the darkness covering
the ground, her white hair waved around her, the color stark against the blue
depths. The last time the white witch challenged Poseidon for his throne, he’d
marked her so she would not forget who the victor was that day. Her hair had once
been vivacious red.

Poseidon had gone even beyond
the known depths and had not shown himself in eons. His enemies were becoming
overly bold. This one hated his legacy more than any other.

Tabatha the White, as she liked
to call herself, stopped a few feet from the border where the city limits
began. “Ah, you may hold the trident, Xavior, but you are not king. Only the
king commands the depths.”

“Perhaps, but I do hold the
power to destroy you,” he replied. The trident glowed, turning the surrounding water
red. “We can do this easily or not. Up to you.”

Her
shrill laughter caused ripples in the water. “Neither, Xavior. I come to claim
the challenge rite. For I too, hold Poseidon’s blood. I claim chair rite.”

“You!” Ballen shouted.

“Xavior has no mate. And he is
of age. He has never found her, thus the legacy passes to next in line or
whoever wishes to test the chair. I claim chair rite. I need only to sit the
chair and have it accept me as his mate.”

“You are not his mate!” Ballen
shouted again, murmurs could be heard around them from the warriors behind him.

“Only the chair can decide
that,” she countered.

Ballen took a step forward and
Xavior raised his arm to stop him. “That is true, but it will not be you. For
you see, I have already found my mate.”